Denmark’s Report
for the State of the
World’s Biodiversity
for Food and
Agriculture
December 2016
Background
In 2007, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) initiated the preparation of the first global report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture
as requested by the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture is to provide an integrated
description on the state of plant, animal, forest and aquatic genetic resources for food and agriculture.
In 2013 FAO invited the countries to prepare a new Country Report on their state of biodiversity
for food and agriculture as a contribution to the preparation of The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture Report to be presented in 2017.
Description of the chosen report form
The electronic questionnaire that was prepared by FAO to collect national data as each country’s contribution to The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture Report is only
filled out regarding identified production systems in Denmark. Whereas the present report refers
to these production systems throughout the report representing information on the status and
trends of biodiversity for food and agriculture, including animals and plants and partial of forest,
aquaculture and fisheries. The report is thus based on the questions in the electronic questionnaire and the annex refer to the recommended scope of the Country Report set up in the
Guidelines for the preparation on the Country Reports for The State of the World’s Biodiversity
for Food and Agriculture.
The Danish Agrifish Agency under the Ministry of Environment and Food has been the national
focal point coordinating the preparation of Denmark’s country report.
Denmark, December 2016.
Graphics: The Danish Agrifish Agency
ISBN: 978-87-7120-840-5
2 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Content
Background
Description of the chosen report form
2
2
1.
1.1
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.1.3
1.1.4
1.1.5
1.1.6
1.1.7
1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2
1.2.3
1.2.4
1.2.5
1.2.6
1.2.7
1.2.8
1.3
1.3.1
1.3.2
1.3.3
1.3.4
1.3.5
1.4
1.4.1
1.4.2
1.4.3
1.4.4
1.4.5
1.4.6
Introduction to Denmark and the role of biodiversity for food and agriculture 5
General overview of the country
5
Land area
5
Climate
5
Human population
5
Land use
5
Agriculture
6
Forest
8
Aquaculture and Fisheries
8
Production systems in Denmark
10
Description of production systems in Denmark
10
Livestock
11
Forest
11
Aquaculture and fisheries
11
Irrigated crops
11
Rainfed crops
11
Mixed systems
12
Others
12
Importance of production systems
12
Livestock: Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture
13
Crops: Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
14
Horticulture
15
Forest genetic resources
15
Fisheries and Aquaculture genetic resources for food and agriculture
15
Ex situ and in situ conservation
16
Regional Work on Conservation and use of genetic resources
16
NordGen Plants
16
Activities in Denmark on Plant Genetic Resources
17
NordGen Farm Animals
18
Activities in Denmark on Animal Genetic Resources
18
NordGen Forest
19
2.
2.1
Drivers of change
20
Main drivers of change affecting plant, animal, forest, and aquatic genetic resources
for food and agriculture
20
Changes in land use management
20
Pollution and external inputs
20
Climate change
20
Invasive alien species
21
Market, trade and the private sector
21
Policies
22
Population growth and urbanization
22
Advancements and innovation in science and technology
22
2.1.1
2.1.2
2.1.3
2.1.4
2.1.5
2.1.6
2.1.7
2.1.8
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 3
2.2
Effect of drivers of change on traditional knowledge
22
3.
3.1
24
3.1.1
3.2
3.2.1
3.2.1.1
3.2.2
The state and trends of biodiversity for food and agriculture
Associated biodiversity and ecosystem services: state, trend, risk of loss, and
conservation
Soil resources
Lakes and watercourses
Pollination
The Nordic brown bee
Habitat provisioning
4.
4.1
4.1.1
4.1.2
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.5.1
4.5.2
4.5.3
4.5.4
The state of use of biodiversity for food and agriculture
Agriculture
Non-organic agriculture
Organic agriculture
Forest
Fisheries
Wild resources: state, trends and use for food and agriculture
Access, exchange and benefit sharing
The Convention on Biological Diversity
The Nagoya protocol
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Interlaken Declaration
29
29
29
30
31
31
32
32
32
32
33
33
5.
5.1
5.2
5.3
Policies, institutions and capacity
34
National policies, programmes and enabling frameworks
34
Information systems on associated biodiversity
35
Stakeholder participation that support maintenance and use of biodiversity for food
and agriculture
35
Farm animals
35
Plant genetic resources
36
National, regional and international collaboration for the conservation and sustainable
use of biodiversity for food and agriculture
36
National collaboration
36
Regional and international collaboration
36
Capacity development
37
5.3.1
5.3.2
5.4
5.4.1
5.4.2
5.4.3
6.
24
25
26
27
28
28
Future agendas for conversation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food
and agriculture
38
7.
References
Annex 1. Production systems
4 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
40
43
1. Introduction to Denmark
and the role of biodiversity
for food and agriculture
1.1
General overview of the country
1.1.1
Land area
Denmark is a Nordic country in Europe and a member state of the European Union. Denmark
consists of the peninsula, Jutland, and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland,
Falster and Bornholm, as well as more than 400 minor islands. Denmark covers a total area of
43,100 km2 (43,100,000 ha), with about 7,500 km coastline. Denmark is a relatively flat and
low-lying country, and the highest point in the country is no more than 173 m above sea level.
The Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland, which is part of the North American continent, is also a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. But they are not included in this country report
of Denmark as they both have autonomous self-rule (extensive home rule), and the two countries are not members of the European Union.
1.1.2
Climate
Denmark has a mild and temperate climate (See definition in Annex 1, Table 1). The country
falls into two biogeographical zones, the Continental to the east and the Atlantic to the west.
Denmark has four seasons which means warm summer days, colorful autumns, green springs
and cold, snowy winters. It rains or snows every second day (during the wintertime it snows
seven days a month). Within the year, the average temperature ranges from 0°C in January to
16°C in August with considerable variation. The average annual rainfall, measured between
1961 to 1990, is 712 mm, ranging from 500 to 900 mm.
1.1.3
Human population
The total population is 5.6 million inhabitants and approximately 130 inhabitants per km 2. This
means that it is densely populated. About 30 % of the population lives in rural areas (European
Commission, 2015). Life expectancy of women are 81.9 years and of men 78.0 years (Danmarks Statistik, 2014). Especially the areas far away from the biggest cities (more than 45,000
inhabitants) and the smaller islands have had a negative population growth.
1.1.4
Land use
Denmark is among the most intensively cultivated countries in Europe. The agricultural land is
covering approximately 62 % of the area (See Figure 1). Farms manage 2,632,947 ha of cultivated land (Danmarks Statistik, 2015). Over 90 % of this utilized agricultural area is arable land
characterized by intensive and specialized production. The agricultural land consists of cultivated fields, permanent crops and permanent grassland.
The rest of the country consists of approximately 14 % forest, 9 % open semi-natural areas
such as costal and non-coastal cover (heats, meadows and bogs), 2.5 % lakes and streams,
2.5 % small biotopes in the agricultural land (non-cultivated habitats, e.g. fences, boundaries,
dykes, roadways, ditches and barrows), while cities, roads and other infrastructure pose approximately 10 % of the land (Figure 1).
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 5
The open semi-natural areas of which part of these areas have been protected for many years
from active damage under the Nature Protection Act. This, however, does not prevent these areas from invasion by unpalatable grasses or scrub as a result of reduced management by
grassing or cutting (Brink et al., 2012).
Agriculture
2.5%
2.5%
10.0%
Forest
Semi-natural areas
9.0%
14.0%
Lakes and streams
62.0%
Small biotopes (e.g. ponds,
hedgerows, coverst, burial mounds)
Urban area roads and infrastructure
facilities
Figure 1: Land use in Denmark 2012 (%) (Lundsgaard et al., 2016).
1.1.5
Agriculture
Between 1920 and 2015, the agricultural area has decreased from 3.2 million ha to 2.6 million
ha (Danmarks Statistik, 2016).
The production in Danish agriculture is concentrated on fewer farms because of the structure
development with a 3 % of decline of farms per year during the period 1990 to 2011 i.e. from
79,000 farms to 40,660. In 2015, the number of farms was 36,637. However, while the number
of farms are decreasing the size of the remaining farms are increasing and becoming more specialized, e.g. only a few farms have mixed types of livestock. In 2014 only 1.8 % of the farms
had both pigs and cattle.
The average size of farms has increased from 35 ha in 1990 to above 67 ha in 2013. However,
the activity has not decreased correspondingly thus the production of cereals was 18 % higher
in the period 2010 to 2014 compared to the period 1983 to 1987. Also the number of cattle decreased with 40 % but at the same time the production of milk from cows is doubled. Thereby,
the production of milk is maintained at the same level.
Today 82 % of the agricultural area is cultivated with feed for livestock in the form of cereals,
maize, beets, rape, whole crop and grass. 9.5 % of the area is used for growing food for humans like cereals, potatoes, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit and berries. The most important cereals in Danish agriculture are wheat, rye, barley and oats in that order. The rest 8.5 % is grown
with rape for biodiesel, grass seeds, Christmas trees, industrial potatoes, flowers or uncultivated. In the horticultural sector the number of growers and the area with berries is declining.
Whereas the area with outdoor vegetables is increasing (Figure 2).
6 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
8.5%
9.5%
Area of feed crops
Area of food crops
Other use
82.0%
Figure 2: Distribution of agricultural area 2014 (%) (Lundsgaard et al., 2016).
The economy within the Danish agricultural sector in general has been and still is under pressure these years. Generally, during the last decade the earning has decreased, the productivity
is stagnant and the competitiveness is under pressure. In agriculture and horticulture the gross
investment fell with 48 % from 2007 to 2012. Similarly, within the cattle and pig sector missing
investments and stalled structure development are seen, which among other factors, are because of high debts on agricultural holdings (Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet, 2015 / 2016). Farmers are also facing difficulties in relation to the increasing requirements of environmental regulation that impinge the primary production as well as increasing level of costs (European Commission, 2015).
The main policies regulating the agricultural landscape in Denmark are based on European Union policies and national policies. The Danish Rural Development Programme (RDP) has recently been adopted by the European Commission for the period 2014 to 2020. The overarching objective of the Rural Development Programme is achieving green conversion and green
jobs. Denmark has chosen to address this mainly via ensuring the sustainable management of
natural resources and environment action. Denmark aims to improve biodiversity, water and soil
management with environmental friendly management practices, by changing the use of land to
more environmental and climate friendly practices, for example by increasing the area of organic farming. Also to foster competitiveness of the agriculture sector further, priority is given to
investments contributing to environmental objectives. Additionally, support will be given to restructuring of the pig and cattle sectors, which have faced a low level of investment in recent
years. Innovation as a cross-cutting objective is an integral part of the Rural Development Programme. It plays an important role in linking the highly prioritized environment objectives with
the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, business in rural areas, and balanced territorial development contributing to the creation of ‘green jobs’.
Often agriculture in Denmark is described as family farms, indicating that the farmer and one or
more members of the family is taking part in the work at the farm. In 2013, 38 % had either the
spouse of the farmer or another family member working at the farm. Especially on farms with
poultry or pigs but also other livestock farms a member of the family of the farmer is employed.
Traditionally, men have dominated farming in Denmark. This is still the reality in 2013 with 73 %
of men and 27 % of women working within agriculture. Half of the women are wives of the farmers, furthermore 80 % of this group of women work part time in agriculture. More than half of the
men are working full time. Within pig production and nurseries more women are working fulltime
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 7
with respectively 55 % and 65 % (Danmarks Statistik, 2015). Only every seventh woman working within agriculture is an independent farmer or manager. In 2016 an increase of young people applying for education within agriculture has been observed. Almost no differences are observed between non-organic and organic farms when it comes to employment of a member of
the family at the farm (Danmarks statistik, 2015). The average age of the Danish farmer has
been increasing from 47 years in 2002 to 49 years in 2011.
Regarding beekeepers the number of female beekeepers are increasing from 11 % in 2006 to
18 % in 2011 and may still be increasing.
1.1.6
Forest
Many years ago, most of Denmark was covered with forest. However, around year 1800 only 23 % of Denmark was covered with forest after years of uncontrolled chopping and clearing areas for ship- and building materials, firewood and agriculture. In 1805 a forest legislation, was
adopted and since then it has been illegal to clear forest areas in Denmark. Further, there has
been an effort to plant more forest.
Thus the area with forest has increased in the period between 1920 and 2015 from 420,000 ha
to 615,000 ha (Danmarks statistik, 2016). Compared with EU having a total forest area of about
one billion ha in 2011, Denmark is among the minor forest countries. The forest area covers
14.3 % of Denmark, where most forest is found along the high ridges in Jutland, in the Northern
Zealand and Bornholm (SVANA).
39 % of the total forest area in Denmark is conifers, where 42 % consists of broadleaves and
the rest are mixed plantation, unplanted areas or areas where the trees are not identified yet
(Figure 3). Conifers were imported to Denmark for about 200 to 300 years ago, where broadleaves are a local species.
Forestry contributes to the Danish economy with 2.1 billion DKK.
Conifers
11%
2%
1%
5%
Broadleaves
39%
Unstocked
Temporarily unstocked
Christmas trees and greenery
42%
Mixture of conifers and
broadleaves
Figure 3: Distribution of forest area in 2014 (Nord-Larsen et al., 2015).
1.1.7
Aquaculture and Fisheries
Denmark has a coastline of 7,314 km and a total water area of 700 km2, where protected lakes
of an area above 100 m2 are constituting 64,524 ha. Further, there are 69,000 km of streams.
8 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
The marine waters are both part of the North-East Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea regions.
There are almost 200 species of marine fish in Denmark. Many species are captured by sustainable methods, but there are still some challenges to ensure that all fish are captured by sustainable methods and to secure a profitable business in the long term.
In 2011, the Danish fishery fleet consisted of 2,787 registered vessels which captured around
716,000 t fish equivalent to a turnover of around 3.2 billion DKK.
The Danish aquaculture production mainly includes rainbow trout kept in freshwater. In 2013,
Denmark represented 12 % of the EU’s total volume of fishery and aquaculture production.
The Danish aqua cultural sector is leading in use of recirculating technologies that contribute to
a reduction of nitrate, phosphor and organic material emission per produced fish.
Figure 4: Land use (European Environment Agency 2006, http://www.eea.europa.eu/da).
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 9
1.2
Production systems in Denmark
1.2.1
Description of production systems in Denmark
Table 1: A brief description for each of the production systems identified as occurring in Denmark as described in Annex 1.
Sector
Code
Name of Production system
Description
Livestock
L3
Livestock grassland-based system
Organic production and production systems where animals have access to outdoor areas.
Pigs/porks
Cattle
Beef cattle
Poultry
Sheep
Goats
Horses
L7
Livestock Landless systems
F3
Naturally regenerated forests
Livestock production are separated from areas were forages are produced.
Pigs/porks
Cattle
Fattering calf
Poultry
Fur animals
Naturally regenerated forests both includes primary, modified natural
and semi-natural forests.
F7
Planted forests
A3
Self-recruiting
capture fisheries
A7
Culture-based
fisheries
Fish are released into lakes and streams to increase population.
Carp
A11
Fed aquaculture
Trout
Eel
Salmon
Perch
Pike perch
A15
Non-fed aquaculture
Fish that does not need to be fed (Blue mussels, oyster).
C7
Irrigated crops
(other)
Specific agricultural areas may purposely be provided with water in the
growing season during dry years.
C11
Rainfed crops
Mixed
M3
Mixed systems
Others
O1
Other
Agriculture practice relying exclusively on rainfall as its source of water.
Arable crops for agriculture (Cereals, potatoes, sugar- & fodder beets,
grass & green fodder silage, i.e. maize)
Arable crops for horticulture (vegetables, fruit, berries)
Production systems that are a combination of livestock, crops, aquaculture and/or forest.
Horticulture under glass: vegetables and flowers
Production of honey
Forest
Aquaculture
and Fisheries
Crops
Planted forests both includes semi-natural forests and plantations that
are productive and protective.
Capturing fish in marine, coastal and inland areas.
10 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
1.2.2
Livestock
In Denmark livestock grassland-based systems include pigs, cattle, horses, sheep, goats and
poultry (Danmarks Statistik), which are kept on outdoor areas. Part of the animals are for organic production, others are kept at indoor systems with access to outdoor area. Livestock
landless systems includes pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and mink. Landless systems
mainly keep the animals at indoor systems and are separated from areas were forages are produced.
Most of the livestock is raised in Jutland (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Distribution of livestock units in 2003 (Aarhus Universitet, 2011).
Today farmers are obliged to have land for spreading manure. However, future environmental
regulation aims at targeting regulation according to how much the livestock production systems
are putting on pressure on the surrounding environment. Most of the animals are kept at indoor
systems, but over the last ten years, more systems have included seasonal outdoor areas. The
animals are fed on forages, which might be produced at the farm or obtained from larger feed
companies.
1.2.3
Forest
The forest area in Denmark includes both naturally regenerated and planted forests.
1.2.4
Aquaculture and fisheries
The Danish aquaculture and fishery are generally based on self-recruiting capture fisheries and
fed aquaculture. Within fed aquaculture Denmark produces trout, eel, salmon, perch, pike-perch
and carps. Also culture-based fisheries are used to increase population and further non-fed
fisheries are used to generally produce blue mussels.
1.2.5
Irrigated crops
In the Western part of Denmark, in Jutland, sandy soils may be irrigated during extremely dry
periods. 9,000 farms have access to irrigating which is equal to around 17 % or around 450,000
ha of the agricultural land (Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet, 2015 / 2016). Traditionally, seen from
an economic point of view potatoes have been able to pay for investment in an irrigation system
while a stable production of roughage and horticulture (vegetables) access to irrigation is also
essential.
1.2.6
Rainfed crops
In general in the Danish climate the amount of rainfall suffices the crops to reach their potential
maximum growth during the growing seasons.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 11
1.2.7
Mixed systems
A minor number of Danish production systems consists of a combination of livestock, crops and
forest land, i.e. in mixed systems. This is mainly found at manors or castles.
1.2.8
Others
In Denmark, some vegetables and flowers are produced within horticulture under glass.
1.3
Importance of production systems
In Table 2 numbers are taken from Denmarks statistic.
Production system
Sector
Code
Livestock
L3
L7
Forest
F3
F7
Aquaculture
and Fisheries
A3
Crops
Area
(Value and
Unit)
Total forest
area:
615,000 ha
Production quantity
(Value and Unit)
Contribution to the
agricultural sector
economy (%)
Reference
year
Milk and dairy products: 1,084,000 t
Beef meat: 133,000 t
Pork meat: 1,718,400 t
Sheep meat: 1,500 t
Poultry meat: 186,300 t
Eggs: 62,400 t
Fur from mink: 17.2 million furs
All numbers from
2012
(Mink
from
2015)
From organic production:
Milk, cheese and eggs: 156,406 t
Beef meat: 2,034 t
Pork meat: 1,099 t
Poultry meat: 715 t
Eggs: 10,315 t
All numbers from
2015
Forest area consists of:
Conifers: 240,577 ha
Broadleaves: 258,046 ha
Mix of conifers and broadleaves:
67,080 ha
2.1 billion DKK
2014
Fish, crustacean and bivalve:
700,128 t
3.2 billion DKK (in
2011)
2015
A7
A11
44,199 tons of fish produced
2013
A15
Blue mussels: 1,810 t
2014
C7
C11
Mixed
M3
Others
O1
2,620,000 ha
35,000 ha
Cereals: 9,471 million kg
Christmas Trees: 10 million trees
per year
440.7ha
Salad: 561 t
Tomatoes: 10,575 t
Cucumber: 19,506 t
Strawberries: 4,624 t,
Honey
1,051 ha
12 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Export of 1.5 billion
DKK
67 million DKK
Around 1 billion DKK
extra from pollination.
100 million DKK on
honey.
2015
2010
Area
from
2014
Others
from
2015
1.3.1
Livestock: Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture
Farms with animal production in Denmark have changed from many small farms with different
types of animals towards fewer but larger farms where farmers are mostly specialized within
one type of animal (Danish Agriculture and Food Council, 2012).
High performance and modern livestock breeds have been introduced at the expense of traditional and national livestock breeds to enhance productivity and ensure supply the ever expanding food industry.
In 1920 the number of horses was 600,000 and has fallen with more than 90 % due to the replacement with tractors and other machines. The number of sheep were 188,000 and has decreased to around 70 % (144,418 heads in 2015). Today the number of cattle is 2.9 million reduced with almost 40 %. Cattle are more frequent in Jutland compared to the rest of the country.
In 1980 the majority of the dairy cattle was grassing in the summertime. This gave an average
yield of 6 – 8,000 Feed units (grass-) roughage per ha. Today the majority of Danish dairy
never leaves the stable and thus is fed with roughage as maize- and grass silage, with an average crop yield of 8 – 11,000 Feed units per ha. Thus the Danish dairy sector is steady growing
in productivity.
Since 1920, the production of pigs has increased. Between 1995 and 2014 Danish farmers
have increased the number of pigs with 1.2 million more pigs. The total number of pigs in Denmark was in 2015 12,645,000 (Danmarks Statistik, 2015). This give an output of 12 million piglets for export and 19 million pork for slaughter (Landbrug & Fødevarer, 2016). However, while
the pig production has increased the amount of farms keeping pigs have decreased from 7,842
to 3,769 during the last 20 years. The pigs are mostly fed on barley or wheat and further supplemented with protein source from soya- and canola cake.
In 2014 120 million broilers were produced in Denmark (Danmarks Statistik, 2014). The production of broilers are kept in few systems. In all non-organic systems the line Ross 308 is used.
The amount of non-organic farmers producing broilers has decreased from 227 farmers in 2012
to 217 farmers in 2015, where the organic farms producing broilers have increased from 16
farmers in 2012 to 19 farmers in 2015 (Det Danske Fjerkræraad, 2015).
Beside the production of broilers, turkeys and ducks are also kept in Denmark. In 2015 around
0.6 million turkeys were produced. The production of ducks in Denmark in 2015 were around
400,000 heads, where 180,000 ducks were from organic production.
The demand for cage eggs has been decreasing among Danish consumers while the interest
for eggs from alternative production systems has increased. The amount of cage egg systems
has therefore decreased from 39 farms in 2012 to 25 farms in 2015, together with the barn egg
production that decreased from 47 farms in 2012 to 38 farms in 2015. Free range production
has increased from 18 farms in 2012 to 19 farms in 2015 and the organic egg production has
increased from 66 farms in 2012 to 82 farms in 2015 (Det Danske Fjerkræraad, 2015). In 2012
62,400 t of eggs were produced.
Denmark is the world leading country regarding production of mink fur. Fur from Denmark is
among the most expensive on the marked, which is because of their great quality (Kopenhagenfur homepage). In the last five years (2010 to 2015) the amount of farms keeping mink has
been stable around 1,400 farms (Danmarks Statistik). In 2015, there were 3,388,367 minks in
Denmark (Danmarks Statistik, 2015) and each year 17.2 million furs from mink are produced
together with a small amount from fox, chinchilla and rabbits (Kopenhagenfur homepage).
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 13
In 2015 the total organic production area was on 179,808 ha. In Figure 6 the development in
the organic production area is shown from 1989 till 2015. Today most of the organic area is primarily placed in the Southern, Middle and Western part of Jutland as well as in the Northern
part of Zealand. The number of organic farms has during the last ten years been stable of about
2,600 farms. The number of organic livestock increased from 2,040,616 pieces of livestock in
2014 to 2,646,566 livestock in 2015, which is mostly caused by higher amount of organic poultry production. In 2015, organic systems included 157,527 cattle, 260,510 pigs and 2,216,589
poultry (Danmarks Statistik, 2015).
Figure 6. Development in the organic production area from 1989 to 2015 (NaturErhvervstyrelsen, 2016).
1.3.2
Crops: Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
Today around 40 different species are cultivated as food and feed crops on the production area
on 2.6 million ha.
Grasses, green fodder and fodder beets have declined in importance whereas a growing share
of the land is cultivated with cereals and maize. From the mid 1980’s the area with wheat increased significantly. The harvest of cereals per hectare has tripled from 1920 till today. The
highest increase concerns rye. The harvest per hectare of potatoes and sugar beets has more
than doubled in the same period. Fodder beets have almost disappeared in Danish agriculture
and have been replaced by other fodder crops, especially maize. About 70 to 85 % of the cereals are used as fodder, until the 1950’s also to horses to considerable extent. Thus, the composition of crops has changed during the years, which is essentially economically driven, i.e.
shaped by the demand behavior of the commerce and consumers.
Cereals, i.e. wheat, barley, rye, oats and others like triticale and maize, are the most important
cereals in Danish agriculture. The cereals cover 55 % of the agricultural area in 2015. The application for cereals has different purposes. A considerable amount of the cereals is exported,
around 17 % of especially barley (for malt production) and wheat. Usually Denmark has a
higher export than import of cereals. The remaining production of cereals is used for industrial
purposes for food for consumption and as seeds for sowing in the coming year.
The area of maize has been increasing since 1980 from a few hundred ha to around 200,000
ha. The majority of maize harvested is used as silage and only a minor area is used for kernel
harvest.
14 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Primary root crops grown in Danish agriculture are potatoes, fodder beets and sugar beets. Today the area of root crops has decreased because the number of livestock has decreased and
also because these crops have been replaced by e.g. maize and whole crops.
1.3.3
Horticulture
The number of farms within horticulture has since 2002 to 2011 decreased to around half. The
total number of farms are in 2011 about 395 where more than half of these have green houses
that are 20 years old or more (Danmarks Statistik 2011).
Use of greenhouse area [1000m 2]
Most of the vegetables, fruit and flowers produced as horticulture under glass are found in the
southern part of Jutland and Funen. More than half of the total area used for greenhouses is
used for potted plants to ornamental use (Danmarks Statistik, 2014) (Figure 7).
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Salad
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Potted
plants
Processing Plantschool
and trials
products
Figure 7: Use of greenhouse areas in Denmark 2014 (Danmarks Statistik, 2014).
The production of salad and tomatoes under glass has decreased from 2,808 t and 19,696 t in
2002 to 1,165 t and 13,241 t in 2011, where the production of cucumbers has increased from
14,962 t in 2002 to 18,237 t in 2011 (Danmarks Statistik).
1.3.4
Forest genetic resources
Denmark uses more tree than locally produced. Every year 4.3 million m3 of wood are used in
Denmark, but only 2.4 million m3 are locally produced each year, where the remaining part are
imported from especially neighbor countries (SVANA).
Chopping of trees in the Danish forest increased with 3 % from 2014 to 2015, which are caused
by an increased production of energy wood, that are mostly used in power plants. The increase
in production of energy wood over the last four years (2011 to 2015) can be explained by a political goal towards more energy coming from biomass. Therefore, the demand for Danish
power plants on energy wood has increased (Danmarks Statistik).
Chopping of trees used for furniture and paper decreased with 6 % from 2014 to 2015. Since
1970 the employment within forestry has increased from 4,315 people to 5,890 people in 2014
(Danmarks Statistik).
1.3.5
Fisheries and Aquaculture genetic resources for food and
agriculture
Denmark accounts for 12 %, equal to 700,128 t of EU’s total volume of fishery and aquaculture
production in 2013 (Danmarks Statistik, 2016). Fishing accounted for 95 % of the production
and the remaining 5 % related to aquacultural production of fish etc. for human consumption
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 15
(Danmarks Statistik, 2016). The large volume of Danish fishery production emerges mainly from
lower priced industrial fishery for fish meal. The Danish share of the EU total value was 6 %.
The employment within fishery has decreased from 10,991 in 1970 to 2,574 in 2014 (Danmarks
Statistik). From 2003 to 2011, the total amount of vessels in Denmark was reduced with a number of 782, and among these 545 vessels were active.
In 2013, Denmark produced 44,199 t of fish, where the main produced species were trout.
Rainbow trout have highest value of importance within Danish aqua culture (Figure 8). In 2012,
Denmark produced 41,000 t of rainbow that had a value of 138 million euros (Fødevareerhvervet Danmark, 2015).
3%
2% 4%
Rainbow trout
Eel
Blue mussels
Other species
91%
Figure 8: Production of fish in 2012. (Fødevareerhvervet Danmark, 2015)
Production systems within fed aquaculture includes fish farms and marine aquaculture, where
mostly trout and salmon are produced. Fish farms are mostly placed in Jutland. In 2014, there
were 177 fish farms, 21 marine aquaculture facilities and 11 facilities producing mussels.
Production of blue mussels are an almost new type of production in Denmark. Normally they
are harvested by scraping the ocean bottom at shallow water.
The Danish fishery are regulated through an EU common fishery policy and national legislation.
A set of rules for the organic fish production in Denmark were agreed in 2004. In 2015 there
were totally 23 aquaculture facilities which were converted to organic production, divided on 10
fresh water fish farms (produce about 850 t/year), 2 marine aquaculture facilities (produce
about 225 t/year), 9 line mussel facilities (produce about 3000 t/year), 1 seaweed facility (produce about 1000 t/year) and 1 crayfish facility (Danish aquaculture homepage).
1.4
Ex situ and in situ conservation
1.4.1
Regional Work on Conservation and use of genetic resources
NordGen is a Nordic organization dedicated to the safeguarding and sustainable use of plants,
farm animals and forests. The Nordic countries have been co-operating for more than 30 years
on conservation of genetic resources. Until 2008, the Nordic Gene Bank was only active with
the domain of plant genetic resources but since then NordGen was established as a result of a
merger between the Nordic Gene Bank, the Nordic Gene Bank Farm Animals and the Nordic
Council for Forest Reproductive Material.
1.4.2
NordGen Plants
NordGen Plants works with conservation and sustainable use of cultivated plants and their wild
relatives. This includes both conserving the seeds ex situ, supplying researchers and others
with seeds and their data as well as general information work about the value and importance
16 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
of plant genetic resources. In Denmark’s country report from 2009 (Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries, 2009) on the state of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture the close collaboration and coordination between the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen) and the
Danish plant genetic resources programme is presented as being essential to the national conservation and use of food and feed crops and their crop wild relatives. NordGen is thus responsible for the conservation of Danish seed propagated crops and potatoes. This includes the respective administration of documentation and database systems covering all Danish agricultural
and horticultural crops, including material of vegetatively propagated material conserved in national field genebanks. The seed material in NordGen’s collection is accessible to all, e.g.
breeders, scientists, farmers and gardeners. Relevant material is included under the Multilateral
System of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
A survey of crop wild relatives growing in situ in Denmark has been elaborated (Bjørn et al.,
2011). Each species is described by its location and recommendations on management especially for the rare and endangered species and has been followed up by seed collections stored
in NordGen’s ex situ collection.
1.4.3
Activities in Denmark on Plant Genetic Resources
In Denmark the Danish Agrifish Agency under the Ministry of Environment and Food coordinates the work with the national programme on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Strategy and action plans have been implemented since 2000. A new strategy on plant genetic
resources is launched in 2016. Denmark has committed itself internationally through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for
Food and Agriculture. A Danish Advisory Committee for Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources are in place to assist and advice the Danish AgriFish Agency on matters related to conservation, use and access to plant genetic resources within its territory.
The Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark supports projects regarding plant genetic
resources through national funds.
The Danish national vegetative collections of fruit and berries are maintained within public institutions as the University of Copenhagen, and the vegetatively propagated vegetables are maintained by the University of Aarhus. Conservation, maintenance and use of vegetatively propagated species of Danish origin is a task of the national programme on plant genetic resources.
Crop wild relatives (CWR): In Denmark a survey of crop wild relatives (CWR) were initiated in
2007 and around 450 species of CWR were identified (Plantedirektoratet, 2007). A prioritizing
of the list resulted in around 100 species. The species have been localised in different places
around the country. For each of the species recommendations to their future conservation have
been given (Bjørn et al., 2011). At the time being some of the identified CWR have no actual
need for specific attention, i.e. as there is no actual significant risk of loss in their original environment, and may therefore continue only to be under in situ conservation, though the crop wild
relative species it is not growing in protected areas. While other identified crop wild relative species needed backup in ex situ collection. Therefore seeds of such threatened species have
been collected and stored in the ex situ seed collection of the common Nordic genebank,
NordGen.
Breeding activities:
Ongoing commercial plant breeding programmes in Denmark today are in place for the following crops:
 Cereals: barley, wheat, oat, rye, and triticale.
 Grasses: bromegrass, cocksfoot, creeping bentgrass, blue fescue, hard fescue, meadow fescue, red fescue, tall fescue, festulolium, Italian ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial
ryegrass, and timothy.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 17
 Fabacease: alfalfa, faba beans pea, red clover, and white clover.
 Industrial crops: potato, and oil seed rape.
Micro breeding within agricultural crops, e.g. within oil crops is also in place. Earlier Denmark
used to have commercial plant breeding programmes also within vegetables.
Crop Innovation Denmark - from Genes to Seeds (CID):
In Denmark a strengthened close collaboration between universities and industry was established in 2013 to obtain even more targeted research, and innovation within plant breeding. The
initiative was taken to secure Danish competiveness and ability to move forward on the market
through innovation and research within plant breeding.
Public Private Partnership for Pre-breeding:
The Nordic countries represent some of the most northern agricultural areas on Earth. A long
tradition of plant breeding exist within the countries, which has delivered new varieties and
characteristics of crops, specifically adapted to the unique environmental conditions of the high
north. Now, much of the global plant breeding is carried out by large multinational companies
and a small, unique market like the Nordic countries, can easily be overlooked and neglected.
Therefore, a regional Nordic Public Private Partnership for pre-breeding was established in
2011 to strengthen the Nordic collaboration in plant breeding. The goal is to secure the development of Nordic agricultural crops to meet the demands brought about by climate change and
consumer expectations for healthy and tasty products, and to contribute to sustainable development of an environmental friendly agricultural sector. Funding is divided equally with 50 / 50 between national public sources and private industry (Nilsson et al., 2016).
1.4.4
NordGen Farm Animals
NordGen Farm Animals is a service and knowledge center for sustainable management of farm
animal genetic resources for the Nordic countries. NordGen Farm Animals’ areas of activity are
conservation of farm animal genetic resources (AnGR) relevant for food production and agriculture, sustainable use of AnGR information and networking as well as international activities.
NordGen Farm Animals contributes to the Nordic countries’ work by promoting the genetic, economic, cultural, historical and social values of farm animal diversity to meet the needs of future
markets, production systems and climate change.
1.4.5
Activities in Denmark on Animal Genetic Resources
The Danish effort on preserving animal genetic resources for food and agriculture is coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. Denmark has committed itself internationally through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Interlaken Declaration on
Animal Genetic Resources. Since 1985, a Danish Committee for Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources has existed. A new Advisory Committee was formed in 2013 with a majority of
breeders which assists and advises the ministry. The Danish conservation work is concentrated
around original or locally adapted breeds, which are at risk of extinction (Generally those mentioned in Table 3). Those breeds are often kept by small-scale farmers.
The Advisory Committee has in 2016 developed a strategy for the period 2016 to 2020, which
focus to contribute to preservation work on the long-term perspective (http://naturerhverv.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/NaturErhverv/Filer/Landbrug/Genetiske_ressourcer/Husdyr/Udvalg/Strategi_for_Bevaringsudvalgets_arbejde_med_husdyrgenetiske_ressourcer_2016-2020.pdf).
The Danish gene bank for animal genetic resources contains cryopreserved semen from cattle,
pigs, sheep, horses and goats, and embryos from cattle, pigs and sheep. The bull semen are
routinely used for breeding, though there are limits for doses on stock and veterinary re-
18 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
strictions for elder semen. The Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark supports breeders, breeders’ associations and projects in conservation work through national funds. The conservation work is mainly communicated by the Ministry through the Committee, a newsletter, a
yearly meeting for breeders and the homepage for animal genetic resources.
Table 3. Old Danish adapted breeds.
Horses
Cattle
Pigs
Sheep
Goat
Rabbit
Poultry
Bee
Dogs
1.4.6
The Jutland horse
The Frederiksborg horse
The Knabstrupper horse
The Jutland cattle
Danish Black and White Cattle, anno 1965
Danish Red Cattle, anno 1970
Old Danish Dairy Shorthorn
Agersoe cattle
Danish Black Pied Pig
Danish Landrace, anno 1970
Danish Landrace Sheep
Marsh sheep
Danish Landrace Goat
Danish White Rabbit
Danish Landrace Chicken
Danish Landrace Goose
Danish Landrace Duck
Danish Jacobin Pigeon
Danish Suabian Pigeon
Old Danish Tumbler
The Nordic Brown Honey Bee
Broholmer Dog
Old Danish Pointing Dog
Danish/Swedish Farm Dog
Danish White Spitz
NordGen Forest
The mandate of NordGen Forest is to address conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources, by being a forum for researchers, practitioners and managers working on forest
genetics, seeds, planting stock and methods for regeneration, and by facilitating the flow of scientific information and knowhow between these groups. The main goal is to contribute to the
establishment of the best possible Nordic forests for the future. NordGen Forest serves as a
Nordic meeting place to connect people on conferences, thematic days, seminars and meetings, as well as through information and public awareness work. For example a meeting in 2016
was about introduced species in Nordic forestry (NordGen, 2016).
NordGen Forest consists of two units, each with members from all the Nordic countries. One
unit is the forest regeneration council for exchange of information on regeneration issues, for
discussion on topics of interest for Nordic forestry, and for planning of future events. The other
unit is the working group on genetic resources to ensure cooperation in conservation and use of
forest genetic resources across the Nordic countries.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 19
2. Drivers of change
Traditionally Denmark has been regarded as a country of agriculture as agriculture covers 62 %
of the country area. The agricultural area is therefore of great importance for the production of
food and feed and thus influence the different components of associated biodiversity in the environment. However, all production systems in Denmark including crop, livestock, forest, fisheries and aquaculture, expose associated biodiversity to a number of different factors, some of
which are shortly described in the following.
2.1
Main drivers of change affecting plant, animal, forest, and
aquatic genetic resources for food and agriculture
2.1.1
Changes in land use management
Today farms manage 2.6 million ha of cultivated land a decline from 3.2 million ha in 1920 (See
further in chapter 1.1.5.
2.1.2
Pollution and external inputs
Water quality and the status of the Danish water ways are generally quite good and improving.
The emissions to the surrounding water environment of nitrogen and phosphorus have been
markedly reduced since the beginning of the 1990’ies (Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet, 2015 /
2016). However, it is necessary to reduce emissions from fertilizers and also from pesticides in
order to maintain and further improve the situation. It is a challenge to reduce pressures on nature from intensive agriculture, including the use of pesticides and nutrients. The EU water directive commits Denmark to secure water ways in Denmark with a framework for Community
action in the field of water policy.
In a new study the aim has been to improve understanding of and be able to quantify and predict the effects of glyphosate and nitrogen and their interaction on small terrestrial biotopes in
the agricultural landscape, e.g. hedgerows and field margins. For both vegetation and soil
fauna, the effects were assessed at the ecosystem level by measuring biodiversity and functional traits (Damgaard, et al., 2016).
The project has led to an increased understanding of the causal relationship between plant
communities and the soil fauns at the ecosystem level and increased knowledge on how and by
what mechanisms important drivers that are known to affect plant communities may affect pollination and the soil fauna. The combined use of plant trait and soil fauna trait data in a full-factorial field experiment of glyphosate and nitrogen has never been explored before. The focus on
plant soil fauna traits rather than species will enable a more robust description of the ecological
processes at the functional level (Damgaard, et al., 2016).
2.1.3
Climate change
Climate change has not yet been observed to have an impact in Danish agriculture, except in a
treed of more mais growing. Danish agriculture has an impact on climate gas emission as the
sector accounts for 16 % of the country Green House Gas (GHG) emission, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Danish farmers are in need of new practical tools to address
these emissions stemming from crop and livestock production. The previous Danish Rural Development Programme 2007 to 2013 has supported considerable initiatives to reduce the negative impact of Danish agriculture on nature, climate and environment. The new Danish Rural
Development Programme (European Commission, 2015) for the period 2014 to 2020 is putting
investments among others in GHG-emission reduction from e.g. crop and livestock production
20 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
and renewable energy production on farms. Therefore, farm investments of the pig and cattle
sectors aim to restructure and improve 3,300 farms, while simultaneously targeting environment, climate and animal welfare. Non-productive investments and changes in land use from
arable land to extensive farming areas, as well as environmental efforts in forestry will also be
supported. Thus, agriculture and forestry have a considerable role to play for restoring, conserving and improving ecosystems.
2.1.4
Invasive alien species
Invasive alien species is a growing threat to biodiversity for food and agriculture on land and in
water, due to their ability to disperse and cause negative effects on native species and the environment. In 2009 an action plan was prepared for invasive species in Denmark which is
planned to be revised in 2016 (Miljøministeriet, 2009). The action plan describes problems of
invasive alien species and lists a number of recommendations on how to take action against the
actual species. The Danish Agency for Water and Nature Management is monitoring and maintaining lists of invasive species in Denmark and giving recommendations on how to combat
them (SVANA). Regulation is set up for some species and a number of guidelines has been developed on how to combat specific invasive species.
To enhance public awareness on the impact of invasive species targeted awareness raising activities are set up these years focusing on national efforts to inform the public in general. Among
the latest initiatives is an available mobile application for the public to report on geographic observations of any invasive species in Denmark (www.invasive-arter.dk).
In 2008 a number of 2,655 species were registered to be introduced into Denmark, of these
2,068 species were plants, 566 were species of animals and 21 were species of algae and
fungi. Of these introduced species only a minor number of species happens to be invasive.
Thus in 2009, a total of 63 species were counted to be invasive of these 34 are plants, 25 animals, and 4 algae and fungi. However, these lists are dynamic as are the presence of the species and therefore such lists need regularly updating. Also, a list of monitored “doorknockers” is
in place.
Denmark is part of the European Network on Invasive Alien Species (NOBANIS), which is a collaboration between 15 countries. NOBANIS is a gateway holding information on alien and invasive species in North and Central Europe including registration of invasive species in Denmark.
In a recent report (TemaNord, 2015), collaboration between ten participating countries and territories (the Nordic region: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Svalbard, and Sweden, the Baltic region:
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and the Island of the North Atlantic Ocean represented by Iceland, and the Faroe Islands) contains a pathway analysis and a horizon scanning. The pathway
analysis examines the pathways of introduction for alien species in the Nordic region, the Baltic
region and the islands of the North Atlantic Ocean. The horizon scanning identifies species that
may potentially become invasive in the participating countries or territories. Furthermore, the
report presents guidelines and general recommendations on measures to control pathways of
interest and advice on development of an early warning system for invasive alien species.
2.1.5
Market, trade and the private sector
The choice of crops grown in Denmark is essential economically driven, i.e. shaped by the demand behavior of commerce and consumers. Within Danish agriculture a well-known owner
structure as the cooperatives exist. This is known within abattoir, feed, seed and feeding stuff
companies and dairy production. This means that the farmers own the processers.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 21
In these years, the focus on organic farming is growing. The demand of consumers for Danish
organic products are increasing both within and outside Denmark. Especially export to Germany and Sweden of Danish organic produce have increased. As a consequence, more farmers want to convert from non-organic to organic farming.
2.1.6
Policies
The Common Agricultural Policy has been the framework for the European Union, including
Danish production of food and feed for the last fifty years. Denmark wants the Common Agricultural Policy to accomplish a number of things: Create jobs, ensure economic growth, deliver environmental benefits, generate export revenue and ensure high quality food. Denmark is working for a Common Agricultural Policy that is not setting up heavy administrative burdens or a
heavy regulation of the market. The Danish Rural Development Programme adopted by the European Commission addresses economic, environmental and social priorities and contains
clear targets for what is to be achieved (European Commission, 2015).
Farmers in Denmark are facing difficulties in relation to the increasing requirements of environmental regulation impinging the primary production. Therefore, in the Danish Rural Development Programme during the period 2014 to 2020 it is envisaged to support a number of highly
target agri-environmental climate measures prioritising the most vulnerable areas, and water
management. Almost 3,000 environment and climate friendly as well as resource efficient farm
investments are envisaged. Non-productive investments, such as creation or recreation of wetlands and natural waterways on farmland, as well as investments and compensations improving
the environmental and public amenity value of the Danish forests will be supported. Designated
Natura 2000 and High Nature Value areas are prioritised in this regard.
2.1.7
Population growth and urbanization
The population moving from rural areas to urban areas has increased and most of the population about 70 % live in urban areas close to towns and cities and thus about 30 % live in rural
areas. Especially the rural areas and the smaller islands have had a negative population growth
as observed between 2007 and 2013 (European Commission, 2015).
2.1.8
Advancements and innovation in science and technology
Denmark is pointing at the importance of programmes for research, development and innovation within the EU framework to be well suited to develop the food chain. New skills, new technology and new products with commercial value are crucial for all farmers with big as well as
small farms. For example the agricultural production is the supplier of renewable resources that
can be processed and substitute other non-renewable resources. Resources from agricultural
production that once were left-overs and waste can now and even more in the future in combination with research, development and innovation give rise to added value. The bio-economy
and circular economy may provide achieving added value. This includes technologies that can
refine and exploit biomass more effectively and improve methods of using material that is already produced and harvested. Such technologies both yield environmental benefits, and they
can also generate new earnings for the farmers.
Where Denmark is a leader on environmental implementation, innovative approaches could be
shared more widely with other countries, e.g. the special focus of national research on innovation policy on green innovation in the areas of energy, agriculture and environment.
2.2
Effect of drivers of change on traditional knowledge
The main driver of change affecting the maintenance and use of traditional knowledge relating
to biodiversity for food and agriculture is the increased interest among the public population to
obtain genetic resources for food and agriculture regarded as niche and quality products.
22 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
This is because local genetic resources for food are regarded as niche products of high quality.
Often these resources are also followed with a good story telling behind.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 23
3. The state and trends of
biodiversity for food and
agriculture
The Ministry of Environment and Food is the national authority in Denmark responsible for animal and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture including fish, wild plants and forest
trees. In the Ministry, different agencies are responsible for the different sectors. The Danish
Agrifish Agency hosts the Centre of Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The agency is
thus the secretariat of the two advisory boards for respectively animal and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. For animals, the so called Conservation Committee was established in 1985 and the National Advisory Board for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture was established around 2000. Both boards are represented by various stakeholders
including universities, breeders, and organisations of farmers, museums, non-governmental organisations, and different relevant authorities. The overall aim in the areas of the genetic resources for food and agriculture is to secure conservation, strengthen sustainable use, secure
access and fair benefit sharing, to raise and increase awareness of their importance and
strengthen relevant knowledge research and development. Strategic plans or action plans have
been elaborated and are reviewed and updated at appropriate time intervals, often every three
or four year (Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries 2004; 2008; 2009).
3.1
Associated biodiversity and ecosystem services: state,
trend, risk of loss, and conservation
Agriculture and forestry play a central role for restoring, conserving and improving ecosystems
among these a number of nature and environmental values in the open land and in agricultural
and horticultural production systems are potential important in relation to conservation and development of landscapes and recreational areas.
Agriculture has through decades increased pressure on nature. Thus today nature has become
fragmented. Fields are becoming larger and hedges, boundaries and small ponds have been
removed. However, new allocations are invested in projects for restoring, preserving and enhancing ecosystems.
Agricultural intensification is characterised by mechanization and use of heavy machinery, use
of fertiliser and pesticides, and modifications in the natural systems such as land drainage, closing of small ponds and ditches, removal of hedges and field boundaries. Therefore, the rural development programme for Denmark is focused on support for better management of natural resources of ecosystem services such as replanting hedges, field boundaries and restoring small
lakes. However, semi-natural nature is occupying about 9 % of Denmarks land area such as
meadows, marsh, bog, commons, moorland. Such areas have declined around 25 % during the
last 50 years. The remaining area is highly fragmented with many smaller plots less than 5 ha in
size (Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet. 2015 / 2016).
Furthermore, extensively managed areas are declining in Denmark as the number of grassing
livestock is declining, which have a negative effect on the number of semi nature areas having
high nature value. Therefore, subsidies are allocated to focus efforts on such farmland areas to
maintain and attract favorable farming practices and hereby preserve biodiversity as well ecosystem services provided by e.g. extensive farming. In January 2016 a total of 83,000 ha of
24 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
such areas were approved for subsidies. The aim is to target means of biodiversity in the most
cost effective way, especially rural development support for grassing or cutting semi natural areas outside Natura 2000.
Another instrument is restoration within agricultural land which imposes an obvious challenge
for the farmer who is dependent on cultivating that particular piece of land. However, in Denmark a tool is available to tackle such challenges smoothly and effectively for the benefit of both
the farmer and for the ecosystem and the biodiversity it supports. It is called land consolidation.
A special legal framework is established in the so called Land Consolidation Act having its roots
in the land reforms launched more than two hundred years ago in the 1780’s. Up until 1990,
land consolidation was used as an instrument primarily for agricultural development aiming at
reduced fragmentation and increased holding sizes. In 1990 the objective was broadened and
nowadays the law aims at contributing both to agricultural development and to the implementation of nature end environmental projects. A key instrument in the tool is “land banking” where
buying and selling of several pieces of land involving several farmers simultaneously are facilitated. The multiple deals involved are sealed in one or few cost effective transactions. The tool
has proven to be absolutely essential in the process of voluntary agreements with the landowners affected by nature projects. Some of the largest Danish nature restoration projects have
been carried out this way involving many farms and restoration of some Denmark’s most precious wetland ecosystems.
Forrest wild life. Many forests are cultivated intensively and this has derived consequences for
biodiversity. In 2007 to 2013 it was concluded that the 10 internationally protected forest types
in Denmark, which cover about 15 % of the total forest area, are adverse. About one-quarter of
the Danish flora and fauna species examined are on the national Red List of endangered species. The forest is home to the largest number of these endangered species. Over half of Denmark’s endangered species are related to forest.
Farmland wild life: In agricultural landscapes the total population of the 22 most common farmland birds have declined with around 36 % since 1990 a decline that started in the 1970’ies
(Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet, 2015 / 2016). Typical farmland birds such like lapwing (Vanellus
vanellus), grey partridge (Perdix perdix), skylark (Alauda arvensis), and linnet (Linaria cannabina) are more than halved in the period. Also another typical farm land animal such as the hare
has declined in numbers since the 1970’ies. Until 1960 a number of 400,000 hares (Lepus europaeus) were hunted per year which has declined to 57,000 in 2007. The increase in intensive
farming is thus having a negative trend on farmland birds and other farmland animals such as
hares due to hard living conditions with loss of important micro-habitats for nesting and feeding.
3.1.1
Soil resources
With the purpose to protect soil resources across Europe different threats are of particular importance for Danish conditions which are likely to induce significant degradation of Danish soils
(Schjønning et al., 2009).
Soil compaction is considered a severe threat to Danish subsoils due to frequent traffic with
heavy machinery in modern agriculture and forestry. Compaction of the subsoil layers is effectively persistent and affect important soil functions such as productivity, leaching of nutrients,
and emission of greenhouse gases.
Soil organic matter decline: In former times, permanent grassland was a more common feature
in the landscape, and the arable land included a more diversified crop rotation compared with
today. In some parts of Denmark, most of the agricultural land has been grown with annual
cash crops continuously for decades. Improved drainage of the fields and more intensive tillage
systems may have enhanced decomposition of the inherent soil organic matter. Altogether, this
means that the soil organic matter content has declined for most of the agricultural land, and
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 25
tilth problems ascribed to low soil organic matter content are frequently observed. An exception
in the decline in the soil organic matter content is sandy soils dominated by intensive cattle production systems that have a high frequency of grass in their crop rotation. Danish research on
soil use and management affecting the soil organic matter content points to a range of options
to counteract the soil organic matte decline. These include recycling of plant residues, an expansion of the incorporation of straw, and a more frequent use of catch crops.
In 2003 it was estimated that 10 % of the Danish agricultural area was potentially exposed to
soil erosion. Soil erosion is detrimental to soil quality because it truncates the soil and especially because it removes the fine material and nutrients. In addition, it contributes to eutrophication of the aquatic environment.
Soil water erosion: Spectacular soil water erosion events are rare, and erosion risk is generally
perceived to be low. Nevertheless, water erosion occurs in most soil types typically in autumn
and winter after prolonged periods of rainfall, in connection with snowmelt and with rainfall on
frozen soil. In 2010 the soil water erosion rate in Denmark was 0.5 t per ha per year, well below
EU-28 average (2.5 t).
Erosion by tillage is a process whereby spatial variations in the magnitude of soil movement
during tillage along a hill slope cause net gain or loss of soil locally within fields. Next to land
levelling, tillage erosion is the most severe process of soil redistribution in Denmark. The
mouldboard plough is the primary tillage implement in Denmark and in general the most erosive. Tillage direction also exerts an important influence on erosivity. Tillage erosion must be
considered a substantial long-term threat to soil productivity in Denmark. Researchers point at
the most effective measure in reducing this type of soil degradation is to convert from non-organic to reduced tillage systems. However, there is a need to develop a practical, interactive till
for predicting and mapping tillage erosion for different tillage scenarios at the field scale.
Erosion by wind: In historical context wind erosion, has been a significant problem in Denmark.
However, today the extensive use of hedges in regions with sandy soils and of winter crops has
diminished the problem.
Thus no of these soil threats have had any general impact on the soil fertility in Denmark, when
looking on yields.
3.2
Lakes and watercourses
Lakes, watercourses and wetlands are important habitat types in the Danish countryside
(SVANA). They are heavily impacted by human activities such as water abstraction, discharges
of waste water and straightening for drainage. Therefore many approaches are being taken in
work to improve the environment in lakes and watercourses.
Watercourses connect the dry land and the sea, and apart from being habitats for a large number of plants and animals, watercourses act as dispersion channels in the landscape. This
means that watercourses have a key role in relation to other habitat types.
There are about 69,000 km of watercourses in Denmark. The majority of these (about 75%) are
small streams and ditches less than 2.5 meters wide at their bottom.
The Watercourse Act aims at ensuring that watercourses can be used to drain water with consideration for the natural and environmental quality of the watercourse according to other legislation. A total of 28,000 km of watercourses are also covered by the Nature Protection Act,
which protects against changes in the condition of watercourses except for routine maintenance. The regulations on watercourses in the Act apply for open watercourses, as well as watercourses led through pipes and drains.
26 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Watercourse condition: The majority of watercourses have been impacted by human activities
such as water abstraction, discharges of waste water, straightening for drainage, pipe-laying
and barrages. These impacts mean that many watercourses are not in optimal environmental
condition. In order to ensure the ability of watercourses to drain water away, maintenance is
carried out in almost all watercourses, including vegetation cutting to aid drainage of the riparian areas along watercourses.
In recent years the condition of nature and the environment in many watercourses has been improved considerably through more gentle vegetation cutting and restoration of watercourses.
This means that watercourses which were previously straightened can develop more naturally
again. Some watercourses have been returned to their old meandering course, and watercourses led through pipes have been opened to improve the living conditions of their plant and
animal life.
Environmental targets for watercourses: The environmental quality of watercourses has been
stipulated according to the provisions in the Danish Environmental Targets etc. Act Specific targets for watercourses are stated in the water management plans. Targets have been set specifically for about 22,000 km of Danish watercourses. The majority of these watercourses have the
environmental target "good ecological status".
Lakes: Denmark has about 120,000 lakes larger than 100 m2. These correspond to 1.4% of the
land area. By far the majority are small lakes, and only about 2,700 (or just over 2%) are larger
than 10,000 m2 (1 hectare). In addition, there are about 75,000 ponds under 100 m2. The lakes
in Denmark are spread all over the country with most of them are in the hilly landscape in northern Zealand and central and east Jutland.
3.2.1
Pollination
Pollination is a very important ecosystem service and maintenance of pollination is essential for
the diversity of both plants and insects. However, in recent decades a decline of pollination insects have been reported nationally. Among the approximately 1,500 plant species occurring in
Denmark, almost 80 % are animal pollinated and insect pollination is by far the most common.
Several insect groups are involved in pollination and bees are considered by far the most important, however, butterflies, flies, especially hoverflies, wasps, and moths also participate. Besides honey bees, the Danish bee fauna consists of about 275 species of wild bees which encompass 29 species of bumblebees and about 245 species of solitary bees (Strandberg et al.,
2011).
Pollination is an important ecosystem service in agriculture and horticulture to improve production in quantity and quality. In agriculture and horticultyre pollinator dependent crops are primary pollinated by managed honey bees (Apis mellifera). The economic valuation of their pollination is estimated to about 1 billion DKK yearly because of improved quality and increasing
yield. Kept honey bees are rented out for pollination of agricultural fields to increase quantity
and quality of production of, e.g. white clover, rape seeds, and also in horticulture to improve
quantity as well as quality of fruit and berries, e.g. such as plantations of apples and in strawberry fields.
Beekeping in Denmark is regulated by law to protect the managed bees against a broad range
of parasites among these are american foulbrood (Paenibacillus larvae), stonebrood (Aspergillus fungi), small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), Tropilaelaps mites (Tropilaelaps) and European
foulbrood (Melissoucoccus plutonius), and Aspergillus fungi. Another threat is the Varroa mite,
which was introduced to Denmark in the beginning of the 1980’ies. Therefore, today honey
bees must be managed to control the Varroa mite to secure the survival of the honey bees.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 27
Also, other drivers are of threat such as intensive agriculture practices with large areas of monocultures of no forage value for bees and a surrounding landscape of low content of floral resources.
A strategy for honeybees has been implemented in Denmark for the period 2016 to 2019 (Miljøog Fødevareministeriet, 2016) replacing the previous strategy. The focus in the strategy is to
secure future Danish beekeeping and pollination through maintenance of healthy honey bees
and to work for enhancing the availability of floral resources in the agricultural and surrounding
landscapes, e.g. by planting catch crops, green crops, and hedgerows containing pollinator
friendly plant species and flower strips within the fields.
3.2.1.1 The Nordic brown bee
The brown bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is a native bee species of the Nordic countries including in Denmark. In Denmark the brown honeybee is managed as an important genetic resource
threatened by extinction and is therefore regulated in a specific executive order for the brown
bee managed on the island Læsø. Furthermore, the traditional knowledge on the management
of the native brown bee is today kept by a minor group of beekepers and almost only kept
among beekeepers on Læsø. It is therefore essential to maintain this knowledge and the importance of passing it on to the next generation is recognized. However, it is a challenge to recruit new beekeepers on Læsø and to pass on the education through ‘learning by doing’ while
the specific knowledge on management and breeding is still around.
In the Nordic context an action plan has been prepared to coordinate Nordic activities to promote conservation and utilization of the Nordic Brown Bee and to avoid losing traditional
knowledge.
3.2.2
Habitat provisioning
Planting of hedgerows, has been a long tradition in Danish landscapes. Originally for sheltering
purposes on sandy soils, now rather to increase biodiversity and create wildlife corridors in
landscape (Brink et al., 2012).
28 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
4. The state of use of
biodiversity for food and
agriculture
The most frequently reported management practices or actions that involve use of biodiversity
for food and agriculture in Denmark are described for agriculture, forest and fisheries.
Such management practices applied are generally favoring the maintenance of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food and agriculture. Furthermore, impacts of the
production systems on the ecosystem may also be mentioned.
In Denmark production systems in the sectors of relevance for food and agriculture are adopting an ecosystem approach. This means that within agriculture, forest and areas of marine and
coastal waters, ecosystem approaches are generally management practices that favor the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food and agriculture.
4.1
Agriculture
In general Denmark is following directives set out by the European Union. Most agricultural
farms are applying Integrated Plant Nutrient Management (IPNM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. Although the management practice applied depends on the agriculture
production system whether it is non-organic or organic agriculture. However, for both non-organic and organic farming the same rules are applied regarding Integrated Plant Nutrient Management.
In Denmark an action programme describes the implementation of the Nitrates Directive during
the years 2008 – 2015. The programme ensures that the objectives of the European Council
Nitrates Directive is achieved to protect waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (91/676/ECC). The member states are therefore obligated to review and if necessary review their action programmes at least once every four year.
Integrated Plant Nutrient Management is thus regulated for all production systems in Denmark
to avoid any negative impact on associated biodiversity, e.g. water provision and quality. In the
EU-nitrate directive Denmark has been classified as a nitrate sensitive area. Therefore, to protect the environment within and outside the production areas such as water ways Danish rules
are set up with regard to application of fertilisers such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Regarding nitrogen each farm is assigned a quota which is calculated according to the size of
the farm, crop, climate, and soil. The relevant authorities control quantity allocation and use of
nitrogen. Furthermore, guiding standards are set up for the application of phosphorus and potassium.
Biodiversity is taken into account in non-organic and organic agriculture. For example grant
schemes for applying for several subsidies are in place for encouraging farmers to take on responsibility to increase biodiversity within the agricultural landscape and the surrounding nature. Today farmers are obliged to use environmentally friendly cultivation measures and to reserve 5 % of their areas to biodiversity to protect biodiversity.
4.1.1
Non-organic agriculture
Regarding Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Denmark has implemented a national action
plan 2013 – 2016 according to the European Union’s directive on sustainable use of pesticides,
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 29
making the application of IPM compulsory. In non-organic agriculture, only approved pesticides
are allowed. However, it is recommended to apply non-chemical methods or only to apply such
pesticides that have minor effect on environment and health. The action plan contains a number
of different voluntary efforts to be applied during professional use of pesticides. However, the
area is strictly regulated by the authorities and therefore a number of restrictions and requirements are to be fulfilled by the users.
4.1.2
Organic agriculture
Organic agriculture in Denmark had its own law in 1987 as the first country in the world. In Denmark organic farming is controlled and supported by the state. The organic farming in Denmark
is regulated at EU level. During the Danish Rural Development Programme in the period 2007 –
2013 the effort has been to promote the spread of organic production through area support to
change from non-organic to organic farming by covering the cost of farmers adopting environment and climate friendly land management practices.
Organic farming in Denmark was started up as a small niche production that was mainly sold
locally and has today become a substantial supplement to non-organic food products within
Denmark as well as on major neighbour markets. A national organic control label was launched
in 1989. The organic control label has been successfully implemented as all consumers successfully recognize this in 2015, although today it may be used on a voluntary basis whereas is
obligatory to use the EU-logo. At times production levels have struggled to meet the growing
demand. This is because it takes two years to convert from non-organic to organic farming. Furthermore, farmers need to feel assured that the demand will remain high and preferably increase before they start the process of converting from non-organic to organic production.
Medio 2015 the organic production farming area covered almost 180,000 ha, which is equal to
6.8 % of the Danish agricultural area.
Geographical Danish organic farms are most common in the Southern-, Middle- and WesternJutland and in the Northern part of Zealand where also most of the livestock is produced (Figure 9). This may be due to the fact that organic farming mainly relies on fertilisers of organic
origin such as compost and farmyard manures as artificial fertilisers are not allowed. Organic
farming is improving biodiversity and at the same time it ensures high standards for animal welfare.
Figure 9. Organic areas in Denmark reported by the Agrifish Agency in 2015.
30 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
A number of organic farmers are these years adapting to an even more advanced management
method, which is biodynamic farming. The principles behind biodynamic farming is among others focused on sustainable soil management practices to obtain a soil of high quality. At the
same time livestock plays an important role to maintain the production system of the farm at a
sound balance. In 2016 a number of 45 farmers in Denmark are managing 2,900 ha biodynamically, among these are both small and big farms, i.e. of around 6 – 700 ha. Among the 45 farmers 38 are approved within the international biodynamic Demeter set of rules.
4.2
Forest
The Agency for Water and Nature Management, within the Ministry of Environment and Food of
Denmark, drives the state forests after specific directives and green initiatives, such as all dead
wood are kept in the forests to create life for birds, insects and mushrooms. Oak trees which
are more than 300 years old and beech wood more than 200 years are not chopped. Some
trees are preserved when chopping forest areas.
In this way especially landscape management are used as management practices to support
the use and conservation of biodiversity for food and agriculture within the forests.
4.3
Fisheries
In Denmark, fish stocks are exploited sustainably, with the exception of a small number of
stocks, e.g. of herring and cod in certain locations. The marine habitats have been investigated.
These are negatively impacted by nutrient substances and, in some cases, by bottom trawling
and rock fishing. A project to restore rocky reefs off the island of Læsø and the construction of
offshore wind farms have locally created suitable habitats for many marine species.
In June 2013, the Danish mussel policy was adopted. The overall aim of the mussel policy is a
reduced environmental impact from mussel fishing compared to the situation in 2013, when the
policy was adopted. Focus is on ensuring the right balance between mussel fishery and nature
conservation. With the policy more focus is thus given to a green transition of the way fishing for
blue mussels is carried out in Danish waters. The industry is given incentives to develop other
ways of producing mussels e.g. bottom cultures and long line production.
The North Sea is one of the busiest maritime areas, with exploitation of oil and gas reserves
also occurring in parallel to the important maritime traffic. Two of the world's largest ports are
situated on the North Sea coast, and the coastal zone is used intensively for recreation. In addition, overfishing and bottom-trawling might impact the biodiversity in that region. In the Baltic
Sea, main risks for biodiversity relate to eutrophication, overfishing and bycatch, pollution by
contaminants and oil, and introduction of non-indigenous species1.
Of the 42 sites located in the coastal zone where only Danish fishermen have fishing rights – 32
sites are fully protected either through the Natura 2000 National Order (Executive order:
1048/2013) or through the National Order governing fishery with trawls in the coastal zone (Executive order 1588/2015). An additional 10 coastal sites will be included in the Natura 2000 National order later in 2016.
International track: 23 sites of the 65 sites are located in waters where other Member States
have fishing rights. In 2014, Denmark launched a regional process with Sweden and Germany
with the aim of protecting reef structures in 10 Danish Natura 2000 sites in the Kattegat area
and Western Baltic Sea.
1
European Environment Agency, 2016, The Baltic Sea.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 31
4.4
Wild resources: state, trends and use for food and
agriculture
Associated biodiversity of relevance to food and agriculture is less systematically monitored
than of genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Wild food resources in Denmark are primarily harvested and consumed on a recreational basis.
Such terrestrial wild foods collected and hunted are of minor importance to their contribution to
food security.
Wild species of plants, wild fruit and fungi such as, e.g. berries, mushrooms, and wild plants
may be used in the new Nordic cooking.
Hunting has during the last 10 years, been an increasing and popular activity in Denmark. In
2015 almost 177,000 hunters were registered of which around 11,000 of the hunters, i.e. 6.1 %,
were women. Part of the registration fee obtained from hunting licenses and hunters personal
contribution are allocated for conservation and improvement of nature. Thus the hunters are
setting up initiatives to establish hedges, waterholes, game stripes to form a landscape with biodiversity for the wild animals. Hunting is for deer (rad deer, fallow deer, and roe deer), small
games (hare, fox) and birds (pheasant, pigeon, ducks).
Fishing: Angling is a popular outdoor activity in Denmark. Recreational fishing in Denmark, requires a fishing license. These money are used to improve specific stocks mostly in streams,
eg. trout and salmon. Much effort has been done to improve the quality of streams in Denmark
and to improve the population of fish, some species have been released, mainly salmon and
trout. (Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2014).
4.5
Access, exchange and benefit sharing
4.5.1
The Convention on Biological Diversity
Denmark has been a contracting party to the Convention on Biological Diversity since 1993. As
a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity is the Nagoya protocol on
access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization (ABS).
4.5.2
The Nagoya protocol
Denmark ratified the Nagoya Protocol in 2014. Furthermore, Denmark was among the first
countries in the world to implement the Nagoya protocol in Danish law in 2012 on benefit sharing, including measures on how to access the genetic resources and sharing of benefits arising
from their utilisation.
Thus Denmark has taken measures with the aim of that access to its genetic resources is not
subject to Prior Informed Consent but rules may be implemented if so decided by the Minister.
However, other legislation, on for example species or habitat protection, may apply and access
may not be free of obligations. In the Danish law genetic resources are described as the functional inherited properties of organisms and naturally occurring biochemical substances resulting from genetic expression or metabolism of the organisms. Utilisation is described as intended use to conduct research and development on the genetic and / or biochemical composition of genetic resources, including through the use of biotechnology. Utilisation is also understood to mean development and marketing of products based on genetic resources.
Generally speaking regarding utilization of genetic resources acquired in provider countries the
following measures are in place: Genetic resources may not be utilised in Denmark, if they have
been acquired in violation of the legislation on access to genetic resources, cf. Article 6 of the
32 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Nagoya Protocol, in the country they have been accessed. This is applicable to genetic resources from countries that, as Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, have legislated in accordance
with Article 6 of the Nagoya Protocol. Furthermore, traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and held by indigenous and local communities must not be utilised in Denmark
if this knowledge has been acquired in violation of relevant legislation cf. Article 7 of the Nagoya
Protocol in the country where the traditional knowledge was accessed. This is applicable to traditional knowledge acquired from countries that, as Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, have legislated on this matter in accordance with article 7 of the Nagoya Protocol.
As a member state of the European Union Denmark also has the obligation to conform to the
EU Regulation 511/2014 on compliance measures for users from the Nagoya protocol on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation in the Union. This regulation entered into force in 2014.
4.5.3
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food
and Agriculture
Regarding, plant genetic resources Denmark is also a contracting party to the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). The Treaty was
adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004. As a contracting party to the ITPGRFA means
that plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are available within the framework of the
Treaty’s Multilateral system. Thus, Denmark’s genetic resources are freely available to potential
users for research, breeding and training for food and agriculture within the system. Those who
access genetic materials through the Multilateral System agree to share any benefits from their
use through the benefit-sharing mechanisms established by the Treaty. Parties wishing to provide and receive material under the Multilateral System therefore use the Standard Material
Transfer Agreement. This Agreement is a private contract with standard terms and conditions
that ensures that the relevant provisions on the International Treaty are followed by individual
providers and recipients of plant genetic material.
4.5.4
Interlaken Declaration
Concerning animal genetic resources Denmark has joined the Interlaken Declaration to preserve and use animal genetic resources sustainably to secure global food safety and secure
development of local communities. Further, the Declaration wishes to promote use of livestock
for use on land and create opportunities for niche products generally with local breeds.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 33
5. Policies, institutions and
capacity
5.1
National policies, programmes and enabling frameworks
In Denmark there are a number of national policies, programmes and enabling frameworks that
support or influence conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food and agriculture
and the provision of ecosystem services.
Denmark has national strategies for its genetic resources for food and agriculture (http://naturerhverv.dk/landbrug/genetiske-ressourcer). Since 2000 a strategy and action plans have
been in place for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and a new strategy is to be
launched in 2016. Also for animal genetic resources for food and agriculture a new strategy has
been launched in 2016. These national programmes involve government agencies, universities,
growers and farmers associations, Non- Governmental Organisations, the Nordic Genetic Resources Centre, the commercial breeding sectors as well as upcoming micro breeders, etc.
A new strategy is also in place in 2016 for honeybees to secure and enhance the delivery of
ecosystem service within agriculture and horticulture production systems (http://naturerhverv.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/NaturErhverv/Filer/Landbrug/Genetiske_ressourcer/Biavl/Biavlsstrategi_2016-2019.pdf).
With respect to associated biodiversity, national commitments, policies and programmes are in
place (http://svana.dk/natur/biodiversitet/). This implies e.g. commitments such as laws on nature protection, environmental protection, environmental objectives, livestock, forest, planning
act, and national parks. Also policies for a Nature plan for Denmark was presented by the government in 2014 (http://naturstyrelsen.dk/media/nst/12478455/naturplan-danmark.pdf). In 2016
it has been followed up by a political agreement on a Nature Packet (http://mfvm.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/Natturpakke-2016.pdf) including different initiatives for forest biodiversity, continued efforts for improving biodiversity in nature, the farmer in the open country acting as nature manager, and a more effective management to obtain synergies between nature, and agriculture.
Being member of the European Union (EU) Danish policies and legal frameworks are aligned
with the relevant EU policies such as regulations, directives and payment schemes. The national regulation in Denmark is therefore influenced by the different EU regulations. Thus the
following to be mentioned is of importance for environmental regulation of agriculture and forestry in Denmark:
The environmental policy instruments in the agricultural sector in Denmark is formulated in the
Rural Development Programme of the European Commission. Thus the Danish Rural Development programme is a result of support from the European Agriculture Foundation for Development of Rural areas, which are a part of the common agriculture politic, and are financed from
EU and the Danish Government.
The Rural Development Programme for the period 2014 – 2020 is outlining Denmark’s priorities
for Green conversion and Green jobs.
34 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
5.2
Information systems on associated biodiversity
Denmark has several information systems in place providing data on associated biodiversity in
some of which are reflected in Table 4.
Table 4. National information systems in Denmark.
National information system
Components
of associated
biodiversity
Description of information system
The Danish Red List
All
The Danish red list (Wind et al., 2010) is a record of the
Danish plant and animal species that is assessed according to the Red List Guidelines prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The use
of the IUCN guidelines adapted to Danish conditions is
described by Moeslund et al. (2015).
Alien species in Denmark (including the Danish Black List)
All
Alien species in Denmark is registered in the database
NOBANIS
NOVANA
Water and nature
National monitoring programme providing knowledge
about the state of water environment and nature
Central Beehive Register
Honeybees
Statistics of Denmark
All
Honeybee families and their geographical location is registered on a voluntarily basis in an electronic Central Beehive Register in Denmark. The aim of the register is to
support and secure bee health.
Responsible for the country’s official statistics.
5.3
Stakeholder participation that support maintenance and
use of biodiversity for food and agriculture
A broad range of different stakeholders contributes to the conservation and use of biodiversity
for food and agriculture. Among others these include farmers, foresters, fishermen, beekeepers
but also plant- and animal breeders and universities.
5.3.1
Farm animals
Many farmers are member of different breeding associations and societies, which exist for all
the different breeds in Denmark, both locally and adapted breeds. These gather the farmers to
network and share knowledge and experiences with each other. The breeding associations are
an important stakeholder to connect different stakeholders such as farmers, breeding companies, The Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark, SEGES and universities.
Viking Genetics are one of the largest leading breeding companies in providing artificial insemination from different cattle breeds. They also storage genetic material from old Danish cattle
breeds (The Jutland Cattles, Danish Black and White Cattle anno 1965, Danish Red Cattle, and
Old Danish Dairy Shorthorn) and are in coorporation with both Aarhus University and The Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark to support the preservation of locally adapted
breeds.
Danavl are an important stakeholder within breeding of modern pigs in Denmark. They develop
and distribute breeding material from pigs and are owned and managed by the Danish Pig Research Centre.
The main activity for DanHatch Denmark A/S in Denmark, Finland and Poland are to run a
hatchery together with a rearing- and hatchery production. It is one of the largest and most effective producers of day old chickens in Europe.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 35
Honey bees are popular in Denmark these years. Five different associations exist and about
6,000 people are members of these associations located around the whole country. On the island Læsø a specific part of the island is assigned protected area for breeding and holding of
the threatened subspecies of honeybees namely the Nordic brown bee (Apis mellifera mellifera). The Læsø brown bee population has its own association.
5.3.2
Plant genetic resources
Plant breeding: Within plant breeding in Denmark there are five commercial private plant breeding companies. These breeding companies are among others, responsible for providing Danish
farmers with adapted plant varieties to Danish growing conditions.
Sejet Plant Breeding has breeding programmes in agricultural crops such as spring and winter
barley, winter wheat, winter triticale and faba beans. Sejet Plant Breeding as partly owned by
Carlsberg has a close collaboration and thus the synergies between the two enhance the possibilities in developing new and improved malting barley varieties. Nordic Seed is breeding winter
wheat, spring barley, peas and faba beans. DLF Seeds and Science is a global seed company,
which among others runs breeding programmes across the world to produce varieties of
grasses for forage. The agricultural fund of potatoes Vandel breeds potatoes for consumption
and industrial purposes.
These years new upcoming micro breeders are also emerging.
Vegetative propagated Danish material of fruit, berries and vegetables are conserved as living
plants in clonal archives in different geographic places in Denmark. The main clonal archive for
fruit and berries is conserved at Pometet, by the University of Copenhagen (http://pometet.dk/).
The main clonal archive for vegetables is conserved at Årslev, by the University of Aarhus
(http://dca.au.dk/om-dca/au-aarslev/).
The non-governmental organisation, in Danish called Frøsamlerne and in English “Seed savers”, is active in collecting, multiplying and preserving etc. plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture. Also other enthusiastic individuals as private persons care for certain crop varieties
or research activities on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The national programmes on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture support the activities and projects of any dedicated enthusiasts also for spreading knowledge of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture among public.
5.4
National, regional and international collaboration for the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food
and agriculture
5.4.1
National collaboration
The Danish Agrifish Agency is responsible for Danish genetic resources for food and agriculture
such as plants, animals and fish. The Danish Agency for Water and Nature management is responsible for state forest. Concerning plant and animals there is a committee for each sector
regularly participating in meetings to discuss matters of relevance to genetic resources for food
and agriculture. Both committees are involved in providing advice on elaborating strategies and
action plans within the sectors. Another important task of these committees are to give advice
to the Agrifish Agency for allocating funds under application rounds for project funds.
5.4.2
Regional and international collaboration
The Nordic Council of Ministers, is an official cooperation forum of the Nordic governments, of
which Denmark is member, jointly with Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands,
36 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Greenland and Åland. Among other things the Nordic Council of Ministers finances the Nordic
Genetic Resource Center, NordGen. NordGen is our common Regional Nordic genebank for
activities related to conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture (see chapter 1.4.).
European Regional Focal Point of Animal Genetic Resources: The European Regional Focal
Point for Animal Genetic Resources (ERFP) (http://www.rfp-europe.org/) is the regional platform
to support the in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources
and to facilitate the implementation of FAO's Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources in Europe. Denmark is a member of the programme.
European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR): Denmark is member
of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR)
(http://www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/). This is a collaborative programme among most European countries aimed at ensuring the long-term conservation and facilitating the increased utilisation of
plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in Europe.
European Forest Genetic Programme (EUFORGEN) (http://www.euforgen.org/) is an international cooperation programme that promotes the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe as an integral part of sustainable forest management. Demark is a
member of the programme.
The Bern Convention: Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats is a binding international legal instrument in the field of nature conservation, covering most
of the natural heritage of the European continent and extending to some States of Africa. Denmark is a party to the Convention (http://www.coe.int/).
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR
Convention) and the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea
(HELCOM): The Danish marine waters are part of two marine regions, the North-East Atlantic
Ocean and the Baltic Sea. Denmark is therefore party to both the Convention for the Protection
of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention)
(http://www.ospar.org/) and the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the
Baltic Sea (HELCOM) (http://www.helcom.fi/). Helcom Recommandation on sustainable aquaculture was adopted by the members of Helcom in 2016. The Delegated Act came into force on
1 January 2016.
5.4.3
Capacity development
An overview and knowledge of all research in Denmark on the conservation and sustainable
use of associated biodiversity is impossible to collect because of the wide range.
Denmark has quite a number of experts on management and sustainable use of biodiversity for
food and agriculture, within all sectors such as within the fields of plant, animal, forest and fish
genetic resources. Knowledge is mostly found within the universities in Denmark, such as the
Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus. Breeders are also aware of the importance of longterm conservation to secure future needs for genetic resources for use in breeding programmes.
Active farmers are offered supplementary education on how to manage high nature value areas
such as grassing or cutting of semi-natural areas outside Natura 2000 to maintain biodiversity.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 37
6. Future agendas for
conversation and
sustainable use of
biodiversity for food and
agriculture
The agricultural sector is a key player in relation to sustainability. The Common Agricultural Policy and related policies in relation to biodiversity, animal welfare, environment and climate is a
focus point in achieving a more sustainable sector. The Danish agri-food sector increasingly responds to the possibilities of the globalized world.
Policies in Denmark point at the EU Common Agricultural Policy to work in complementary with
other policies and vice versa. The EU Common Agricultural Policy has been the framework for
the production of food for the last fifty years. From a Danish political point of view the EU Common Agricultural Policy shall in the future accomplish the following: create jobs, ensure economic growth, deliver environmental benefits, generate export revenue and ensure high quality
food.
Farmers and the agricultural labor force are a very small part of the total labor force in a modern
Danish society, even in the rural areas. For creating jobs and economic growth the agricultural
sector needs to be market oriented and competitive. Therefore, the agricultural sector needs to
develop and modernize its production, and structure of farms, as well as to be open to use new
technology. For example the agricultural production is the supplier of renewable resources that
can be processed and substitute other non-renewable resources. Resources from agricultural
production that once was left-overs and waste can now and even more in the future in combination with research, development and innovation give rise to added value. The bio-economy and
circular economy may provide ways of achieving this. This includes technologies that can refine
and exploit biomass more effectively and improve methods of using material that is already produced and harvested. Such technologies both environmental benefits, but can also generate
new earnings for the farmers.
The competition on the world market for agricultural produce will be stronger but will also give
big possibilities for the farmers if policy is designed to foster development and innovation for
both big and small farms. In general, all farmers and the food chain shall be innovative. Innovation where knowledge, science and data are brought into play to acquiring new skills, new technology and new products with commercial value. This will also help farmers to face new challenges in relation to climate and environment.
Climate change: Agricultural production has always been influenced by weather and climate
conditions. A stable production of food and fodder must be secured to deliver livestock, milk,
and vegetables and other agricultural products to consumers. In the future there will be even
more focus on climate. Expected climate changes in Denmark may lead to severe storms and
more frequent and heavier precipitation either as rain or snow. The temperature increase will be
close to the global mean temperature increase. However, the Nordic region is the only place on
earth where climatic conditions allow productive agriculture, forestry and fisheries at high lati-
38 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
tudes with dark winters. Thus in agricultural terms in general the region will be favorably affected by modest climate change, therefore this puts this region at a relative advantage in relation to food production (Barua, et al., 2014). Climate change is expected to be favorable with
regard to grow protein-rich crops such as peas, rapeseeds and soybeans, which may replace
the import of protein for the Danish livestock production.
The challenge in the Nordic region will be to ensure sustainable growth in agricultural production without negatively affecting the environment and natural resources. Predicted climate
change in the Nordic region, together with a highly skilled farming industry will provide good opportunities for implementing new agricultural production systems with substantially higher
productivity at lower environmental costs.
Farmers in Denmark have always been flexible in order to adapt to changing conditions, e.g.
with the upcoming climate changes farmers may continually experiment with alternative crops
as well as new cropping techniques. The most successful techniques quickly spread throughout
the farming community, where agricultural advisors and researchers are ready to compile and
disseminate new results. The future changes is generally believed to be good because in many
cases changes may be favorable to production. Furthermore, the Nordic region has high research, educational and advisory capability. Changes are also putting pressure on breeders for
rapid delivery of crops which can adapt to new and more extreme environments. At the same
time, nutrients (e.g. phosphorus) comprise a limiting factor for production improvements in relation to the ongoing environmental changes influencing primary production. There may be obstacles to adaptation, not least posed by current agricultural and environmental policies, which
may be taken into account to ensure effective adaptation.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 39
7. References
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glyphosate and nitrogen on plant communities and the soil fauna in terrestrial biotopes at field
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Danish Aquaculture homepage http://www.danskakvakultur.dk/om-erhvervet/oekologisk-opdraet-af-fisk-og-skaldyr-mv/
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Landbrug & Fødevarer. 2016. Fakta om erhvervet 2016.
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Miljøministeriet. 2009. Handlingsplan for invasive arter. Pp. 54.
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Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 2008 – 10”).
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new strategy was initiated in 2015).
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42 The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark
Annex 1. Production systems
Table 1. Climatic zones definitions
Climatic zone
Temperate
Definition
At least one month with monthly mean temperature, corrected sea level,
below 5 °C and four or more months above 10 °C
Table 2. Production systems descriptions
Name of production system
Livestock grassland-based systems
Climatic
zone
Temperate
Livestock landless systems
Naturally regenerated forests
Temperate
Temperate
Planted forests
Temperate
Self-recruiting
capture fisheries
Temperate
Culture-based
fisheries
Fed aquaculture
Temperate
Temperate
Non-fed aquaculture
Temperate
Irrigated crops
(other)
Rainfed crops
Temperate
Temperate
Temperate
Mixed system
Other
Temperate
Description
Systems in which the animals obtain a large proportion of their forage intake by grazing natural
or sown pastures, includes:
 Ranching: grassland-based systems in which livestock is kept on privately owned rangeland
 Pastoralist: grassland-based systems which the livestock keepers move with their herds or
flocks in an opportunistic way on communal land to find feed and water for their animals (either from or not from a fixed home base).
Systems in which livestock production is separated from the land where the feed given to the
animals is produced. Only seen in Denmark within fur production.
Includes:
 Primary: Forests of native species, where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and ecological processes are not directly disturbed by humans
 Modified natural: Forests of natural regenerated native species where there are clearly visible
indications of significant human activities
 Semi-natural (assisted natural regeneration): Silvicultural practices in natural forest by intensive management (weeding, fertilizing, thinning, selective logging)
Includes following:
 Semi-natural (planted component): Forests of native species, established through planting
and seeding, intensively managed.
 Productive plantations: Forests of introduced and/or native species established through planting or seeding mainly for production of wood or non-wood goods.
 Protective plantations: Forests of introduced and/or native species, established through planting or seeding mainly for provision of services.
Includes capture fisheries in marine, coastal and inland areas that can involve
 Natural ecosystems
 Modified ecosystems
Fisheries on resources, the recruitment of which originates or is supplemented from cultured
stocks raising total production beyond the level sustainable through natural processes.
The farming of aquatic organisms including fish, mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic plants, crocodiles, alligators, turtles and amphibians. Farming implies some sort of intervention in the rearing
process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators etc.
Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated; i.e., the
population chosen for culture and not a stock in the same sense as that term is used for capture
fisheries. Fed aquaculture production utilizes or has the potential to utilize aquafeeds of any
type in contrast with the farming of filter-feeding invertebrates and aquatic plants that relies exclusively on natural productivity. Also defined as “farming of aquatic organisms utilizing aquafeeds in contrasts to that deriving nutrition directly from nature”.
The farming of aquatic organisms including fish, mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic plants that do
not need supplemental feeding. Farming implies some sort of intervention in the rearing process
to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated; i.e., the population chosen for culture and not a stock in the same sense as that term is used for capture fisheries. In non-fed aquaculture systems culture is predominately dependent on the natural environment for food, e.g. aquatic plants and mollusks.
Irrigated crops other than rice refers to agricultural areas purposely provided with water, including land irrigated by controlled flooding.
Agricultural practice relying exclusively on rainfall as its source of water.
Production systems with multiple components. They include:
 Crop-livestock: mixed systems in which livestock production is integrated with crop production.
 Agro-pastoralist: livestock-oriented systems that involve some crop production in addition to
keeping grazing livestock on rangelands; they may involve migration with the livestock away
from the cropland for part of the year; in some areas, agropastoral systems emerged from
pastoral systems.
 Integrated aquaculture: mixed systems in which aquaculture is integrated with crop and livestock production. May involve ponds on farms, flooded fields, enrichment ponds with organic
waste, etc.
 Other combinations
Vegetables and flowers are produced as horticulture under glass.
The Danish AgriFish Agency / The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture in Denmark 43
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